Load guide and protector



June 8, 1943.

C. WHITE LOAD GUIDE AND PROTECTOR Filed May 26, 1941 INI-"ENTOR. CHARLES WH/ TE Patented June 8, 1943 UNETE D 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for guiding and protecting from damage during loading into railway cars and the like, various commodities, such as' sugar, cofiee, potatoes, etc., packed in sacks.

A modern, efiicient and rapid method of loading railway cars with, for instance, sacked sugar, is to load the sacks in a warehouse onto small motor-driven trucks, and then to drive the trucks out to the'platform and directly over an apron into the railway car, and then to unload the sacked sugar inthe car; Several railway cars are usually standing on a track parallel to the warehouse platform; their doors are wide open, and the aprons extending from the platform into each car permit the loaded trucks to be driven right into each car. The sacks are thrown onto the beds of the trucksand are stacked six to eight tiers high. When the trucks are loaded there is little clearance between the sides of the load and the sides of the car door openings. The loading of the trucks is usually done in a hurry; hence one or more sack ends may project outwardly from one side or another of the load, and unless the driver is aware of a projecting sack end and is careful when driving through the car door, the projecting sack end is liable to strike the sharp corner of the door at one side or another and be torn, with the result that most if not all of the sugar will spill out. The actual loss in one warehouse in San Francisco from lost sugar runs as high as $3000 a year; and while the remaining sugar in a torn sack may be emptied into a whole sack and the torn sacks may be patched and sewed, it obviously involves time and labor which add further to the cost and loss.

The object of the present invention is to reduce losses of this character to a minimum and, more specifically stated, to provide an outwardly flaring guide plate in each side of a car door opening which will cover the sharp corners and present smooth surfaces to guide the load through the door into the car; and further, to provide guide plates of this character which may be quickly secured in position when a car is to be loaded and thereafter removed for insertion in another car.

The invention is shown by way of illustration in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective View of the load guide and protector; and

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view in section, showing a portion of a railway car with a door opening formed therein, and showing the position of the load guides and protectors, said view 3 and 4 need only cover also showing the platform of a warehouse and an apron extending from the platform into the car, over which loaded trucks are driven.

Referring to the drawing in detail, and particularly to Fig. 2, A indicates a pair of load guides and protectors which are particularly intended for temporary installation one in each side of the door opening of a railway car which is being loaded. The guides and protectors are identical in construction and the description of one will accordingly sufiice.

The construction is best shown in Fig. 1. It consists of an inner plate 2, a side plate 3, and an angularly disposed deflector plate 4. The

- whole device is bent from fairly heavy steel plate in a brake or the like, and when completed the side plate 3 will be disposed at right angles to the inner plate 2, and the deflecting plate 4 at an angle of approximately 30 to the face of the side plate and on an angle obtuse with relation to the plate 2, Both the inner plate 2 and the side plate 3 may be perforated, as indicated at 2a and 3a, to permit nails to be driven into the door frame, as shown at 5 in Fig. 2, temporarily to secure the device in place during the loading of a car, or flanges may be formed at opposite ends, as indicated at 6-S, to receive clamping screws ll whereby the device may be clamped in position.

The inner plate will be of a length substantially equal to the height of a car door, but the plates 2 and 3 may be shorter, as shown, as the load on a truck seldom reaches from the floor to the top of the door. In other words, the plates that portion on opposite sides of a door which is liable to be struck either by the truck or by the load placed therein.

In actual practice, the devices are placed one on each side of a door opening, as shown in Fig 2, and may there be temporarily secured by nailing or by means of clamping screws. In Fig. 2, B indicates a portion of the floor of a railway freight car, C the door opening, D the loading platform of a warehouse, and E an apron extending from the platform directly into the car,

this apron being employed as a runway for the loaded trucks as they come out of the warehouse and run across the platform to the car.

If sacked sugar is being loaded, it is placed directly on the bed of a motor-driven truck, a portion of which is indicated at F. In loading the sugar sacks, they are usually placed in the position indicated in full lines at 9, but as they are maining sacks, as indicated by the full lines at Ill. The trucks are driven at a fair rate of speed, and when they pass across the apron E into the car, care must be taken that the projecting sack ends do not strike the sharp corners of the door opening in the car. Where deflectors such as here shown are installed, however, comparatively little care need be taken, as the deflectors 4 will merely tend to push the projecting sack ends back into the load, or crowd them to one side. As the deflector plates 4 and the guide plates 3 are smooth, no damage, such as tearing or cutting of the sack, occurs.

In some instances the sacks are loaded on platforms which are picked up by an elevator on the truck, but even where platforms are loaded, the loading is not always uniform, and one or more sack ends is liable to project.

While the invention has been particularly described in connection with the handling of goods packed in sacks, it is also useful for other commodities or goods, for instance, boxed goods, etc. A projecting box end will often become caught on an edge of the door, and may be torn out of the load or broken if a guide such as here shown is not used. With sacked goods, however, the saving from damage is very material, as the sacks are readily torn and the contents spill out when that happens. It is not only the sharp corners of doors which cause damage where protectors are not used, but projecting bolt ends, screws, etc., often add to the damage. Most door openings are reinforced with angle irons or strip iron which are bolted or screwed in place. The bolts or screws become loose and project inwardly, or the door frames may be partially broken to an extent that splinters may project and tend to tear the sacks. All these difficulties, however, are overcome by the application of the device here shown.

In addition it may be mentioned that where protectors are not employed the truck drivers must slow down and be very careful when driving over the apron and through the door with the car in order to avoid damage to the load, but when the guides or protectors are applied to opposite sides of the door opening comparatively little caution needs to be taken on the part of the driver. Faster driving is thus possible, and the result is faster loading.

The invention should in no way be limited to the handling of sacked goods, nor would it be limited to application to railway car doors, as the device here shown may obviously be applied wherever guidance and protection of goods is required.

While this and other features of my invention have been more or less specifically described and illustrated, I wish it understood that various changes may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims, and that the materials and finish may be such as the experience of the manufacturer and varying conditions of use may demand.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a car body provided with a side opening to permit the passage of a loaded truck into and out of the car, of a guide and protector means to prevent injury to the sides of said. opening and to the goods during passage of the truck into the car and to prevent injury to the containers of goods carried on the truck incident to moving contact of the truck and the goods on the truck with the sides of the car opening as the truck moves through the opening into the car body, comprising a pair of spaced, unconnected angular members each including an inner plate and, a plate at right angle thereto fitting within the door opening at the sides of the opening, a deflector element projecting from each of said second mentioned plates of said angular members and located outwardly wholly beyond the car body and the respective sides of said opening, said deflector elements being arranged in outwardly diverging relation to each other, said angular members each having a flange at each end thereof projecting therefrom in parallel relation with the side of the car body and parallel with the first named plate of the respective angular members, and a clamping screw adjustably mounted in each of the said flanges for co-action with the adjacent side wall of the car body whereby to secure the angular members and their deflecting elements detachably to the car body.

2. A device of the character described comprising a relatively narrow smooth, fiat, unbroken plate having a length substantially equal to the height of a door opening and adapted to be disposed at one side of a door opening, a relatively narrow smooth, fiat, unbroken deflector plate of substantially the same length as the aforesaid plate and forming an extension thereof and disposed on a flaring angle thereto, said plates protecting the outer sharp corner of one side of the door opening, and means for detachably securing the device to the framework of a door.

CHARLES WHITE. 

